Junior Camp Weekend a Success!
Wow what a packed weekend! After the SOG at Knowlands on 1st October 2022, sixteen of us set out back into the woods with kit in wheelbarrows to set up camp in a clearing in the middle of the woods. What an amazing setting - we had a fire pit, composting toilets, running water and were right in the middle of the woods which was ideal for all our activities!
After the first challenge of pitching our tents, Will had planned a huge range of exercises for all abilities for the afternoon - everyone was kept busy with pacing, map orientation grid, bearings, corridor exercises. Back to camp for snacks, free play, maze challenge and fire building - along with a great game of Eagle Eye whilst the sausages were cooking on the fire. Pasta, vegetable sauce and sausages fed some hungry tummies and then everyone got to make their pudding - either bananas stuffed with chocolate buttons, cooked in the fire, marshmallows heated over the fire and squashed between chocolate digestives or any combination of the above!
The day didn't end there - it was dark by now and after a washing up session we had campfire songs (with words for those who didn't know them). Then we ventured off on a night walk dark with our lights off and used our senses to navigate around some nearby paths - easier for some than others!
At last - bed time and everyone was asleep pretty quickly!
Sunday morning and the rain came early, although not too heavy. Will cooked up a huge vat of porridge and with the addition of Ben's compote and a jar of honey, most people tucked in to a warming bowl. Time for a bit more free play (football and the maze were popular), before Karen's Orienteering activity. This time it was map memory and again there were different courses for all abilities - the adults even gave this a try. By the end of Karen's coaching it was raining quite hard, so back to the tent for more snacks! Legs were a little tired now, so we headed to the treehouse area, where there was a big table undercover and brains were challenged this time with a go at three fun challenges. There was a symbol matching game where you had to match the control description symbol to the map symbol, a photo challenge to find the location on the map and a bowl of sand to mould into the correct contour shape - great fun.
After our legs had had a chance to rest we set off for a relay that Will had set up for us. Will got us into mixed ability groups of three, including adults and children. It was a two map relay, with odd numbers on one map and even on the other. Within the team we decided the two people that would go off first and each would find one control and come back to the group. The first person back handed over to the one person left and they went to find a different control, then come back. We were looking for letters which spelt a ten letter word. This was great fun and we saw lots of competitive spirit. Everyone really enjoyed the relay.
Finally, it was back to camp for lunch and then a last competition to see who could complete the maze in the fastest time! Everyone was keen to improve their time and got better in each of their three runs.
At the end of a fabulous weekend it was time to pack up and wheelbarrow everything back to the cars. After one last group photo we all said our goodbye's having got to know each other much better and hopefully improved a little at our Orienteering.
For those that came - thank you for being such fun to be with. For those that didn't come - we'll be hoping to hold a junior camp every year, so look out for the next one !
Thanks to Karen A and Will for providing the coaching, Liam and Peter for helping to coach and Karen M, Bea and Kasia for supporting us.
Anna Chapman (Camp Leader)
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